Robotic Nation Evidence

12.27.2004

Totally automated TV

Mark and his partners -- Dan Gale and Tony Coye -- have invested a lot of thought, time and money into programming a fully automated system.

"Software inserts the commercials, everything is tracked by database, there's no one in a booth" cueing up bumpers, advertisements, and shows, Mark says. "We had to invent a lot of stuff that no one has done before, like real-time tracking for advertisers." Mark also designed his own wireless transmission system for live streaming, which he hopes will be ready in time for Mardi Gras.

Well, maybe not exactly. Mark and his partners -- Dan Gale and Tony Coye -- have invested a lot of thought, time and money into programming a fully automated system.

"Software inserts the commercials, everything is tracked by database, there's no one in a booth" cueing up bumpers, advertisements, and shows, Mark says. "We had to invent a lot of stuff that no one has done before, like real-time tracking for advertisers." Mark also designed his own wireless transmission system for live streaming, which he hopes will be ready in time for Mardi Gras.

12.22.2004

Giant robots in the backyard

In the back of Carlos Owens' southern Alaska yard, an 18-foot-tall steel robot is taking shape in the dim light of the winter afternoons.

The 26-year-old Owens is an Anchorage-area steelworker by day. In his own time, he's hoping to become the creator of a true "mecha"--not a robot, exactly, but a gigantic exoskeleton that can transform its wearer's motions into eight-foot strides and the devastating sweep of a steel fist.